Combining Texts
Ideas for
'works', 'Getting Causes from Powers' and 'A Pragmatic Conception of the A Priori'
expand these ideas
|
start again
|
choose
another area for these texts
display all the ideas for this combination of texts
23 ideas
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 5. Infinite in Nature
8660
|
There are potential infinities (never running out), but actual infinity is incoherent [Aristotle, by Friend]
|
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / a. Greek matter
12058
|
Aristotle's matter can become any other kind of matter [Aristotle, by Wiggins]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 1. Causation
14566
|
Causation by absence is not real causation, but part of our explanatory practices [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14577
|
Causation may not be transitive. Does a fire cause itself to be extinguished by the sprinklers? [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 4. Naturalised causation
14563
|
Causation is the passing around of powers [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 6. Causation as primitive
14587
|
We take causation to be primitive, as it is hard to see how it could be further reduced [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / b. Causal relata
14533
|
Causation doesn't have two distinct relata; it is a single unfolding process [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14558
|
A collision is a process, which involves simultaneous happenings, but not instantaneous ones [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14559
|
Does causation need a third tying ingredient, or just two that meet, or might there be a single process? [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14565
|
Sugar dissolving is a process taking time, not one event and then another [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / d. Selecting the cause
14567
|
Privileging one cause is just an epistemic or pragmatic matter, not an ontological one [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / a. Constant conjunction
14537
|
Coincidence is conjunction without causation; smoking causing cancer is the reverse [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / c. Counterfactual causation
14573
|
Occasionally a cause makes no difference (pre-emption, perhaps) so the counterfactual is false [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14572
|
Is a cause because of counterfactual dependence, or is the dependence because there is a cause? [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14574
|
Cases of preventing a prevention may give counterfactual dependence without causation [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / d. Causal necessity
14539
|
Nature can be interfered with, so a cause never necessitates its effects [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14550
|
We assert causes without asserting that they necessitate their effects [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14546
|
Necessary causation should survive antecedent strengthening, but no cause can always survive that [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 7. Strictness of Laws
14575
|
A 'ceteris paribus' clause implies that a conditional only has dispositional force [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / a. Scientific essentialism
9363
|
Science seeks classification which will discover laws, essences, and predictions [Lewis,CI]
|
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / b. Scientific necessity
14548
|
There may be necessitation in the world, but causation does not supply it [Mumford/Anjum]
|
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 11. Against Laws of Nature
14554
|
Laws are nothing more than descriptions of the behaviour of powers [Mumford/Anjum]
|
14564
|
If laws are equations, cause and effect must be simultaneous (or the law would be falsified)! [Mumford/Anjum]
|